hello folks, this is actually not about  online courses per se, but
since it is so hard to know just how the word has or has not gotten out
about public lectures on campus, I wanted to let you all know about a
lecture tonight, Thursday, by Leonard Shlain.  
 
his book, The Alphabet Versus The Goddess, is one of the most
interesting overviews of the whole orality-writing field that I have
read. so if you have any interest at all in this topic (I do! in fact, I
obsess about it...), then I can recommend the lecture highly. and the
book is a wonderful read - so, if you have actually never read anything
on orality v. writing, I think it is probably one of the very best books
you could choose to start with.  I think there is a lot here for us to
ponder as folks teaching online, since written communication (and the
absence of oral speech) is a central challenge in how we do our work.
 
:)
 
Laura
 
 
-----Original Message-----


	
         
        -----Original Message-----
        From: Dougherty, Robert J. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
        Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 1:43 PM
        Subject: Feaver-MacMinn Public Lecture - The Alphabet vs. The
Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image
	
	

        The College of Liberal Studies is pleased to invite your
faculty, staff and students to a public lecture featuring visiting
professor Leonard Shlain at the University ofOklahoma's Norman campus.
This lecture is free to the public. There will be a book signing after
the lecture.

	

        Thursday, March 2, 2006

	

        Public Lecture

        "The Alphabet vs. the Goddess: The Conflict between Word and
Image"

        Leonard Shlain, M.D.

        Oklahoma Memorial Union

        Meacham Auditorium

        7:30 p.m.

	

        Leonard Shlain, M.D. is the Chairman of Laparoscopic surgery at
the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and is an
Associate Professor of Surgery at UCSF. He is also the author of three
critically acclaimed, national bestselling, award-winning books. Dr.
Shlain has won several literary awards for his visionary work and also
holds several patents on innovative surgical devices. Dr. Shlain is
presently working on a book entitled "Leonardo's Brain: The Left/Right
Roots of Creativity."

	

        Dr. Shlain's public lecture entitled "The Alphabet vs. The
Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image" will be held in the
Oklahoma Memorial Union's Meacham Auditorium on Thursday, March 2, at
7:30 p.m. In this presentation, Dr. Shlain will show why pre-literate
cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that
venerated the Goddess, feminine values and images. Writing, particularly
alphabets, drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking. This shift
upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the
feminine and also ushering in the reign of patriarchy and misogyny.
Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christian and Muslims,
he reinterprets many myths and parables in light of his theory. Shlain
traces the effect of literacy on the Dark Ages, Mary, Gutenberg, the
Reformation, and the Witchcraze.

	

        More detailed information on this year's Feaver-MacMinn Public
Lecture and Dr. Shlain can be found at www.ou.edu/cls
<http://www.ou.edu/cls> .

	

        Please feel free to forward this email or distribute the
attached flyer to your faculty, staff and students.

	

        Sincerely,

	

        Trent

	

        Trent E. Gabert, Ph.D.

        Associate Dean, College of Liberal Studies

        Chair of the Executive Committee

             Brock International Prize in Education

        Professor of Health and Sport Sciences

	

        TEG/kds